This and That for Objects, Changes, and Claims

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to...

• Use this or that before a named technical object, change, or option.

• Recognize when sentence-initial This summarizes a whole preceding claim.

• Replace a vague demonstrative with the smallest noun or claim that the reader needs.

Idea in one sentence: Demonstratives point the reader toward a particular object or toward a whole idea, but the anchor must remain visible.

Core Insight

Imagine a design review about a retry change:

The retry creates duplicate writes. This is the main risk.

Here This does not name the retry as a physical object. It points back to the whole preceding claim: the retry creates duplicate writes. The next sentence evaluates that claim.

Now compare:

This retry creates duplicate writes.

In this sentence, this comes before the noun retry. It points to one named retry policy or change. The demonstrative narrows which retry the writer means.

The two forms look similar, but they perform different reference jobs:

• this change points to a noun phrase;
• This is risky can point to an entire preceding statement.

Technical writing uses both jobs constantly. An engineer points to a configuration, a commit, a queue, or a rollout. The same engineer then summarizes what that object does, why it matters, or what should happen next. A demonstrative can make the connection compact, but it can also become vague when several objects or claims are nearby.

This lesson focuses on singular this and that. The next cluster will later extend the same model to plural these and those. For now, learn to ask what the demonstrative is pointing at and whether the reader can see the anchor.

The Small Situation: A Design Review

Suppose a team compares two ways to handle duplicate requests. The review contains a migration, a retry policy, a gateway, and a proposed change.

Start with explicit nouns:

The new retry policy sends a request again after a timeout. The retry can create duplicate writes. The gateway does not yet have an idempotency key.

Now make the references shorter:

This retry policy sends a request again after a timeout. This can create duplicate writes. The gateway does not yet have an idempotency key.

The first This is a determiner before retry policy. It selects one policy. The second This is sentence-initial and summarizes the preceding action or claim. It does not clearly mean the policy alone, the timeout, or the request; it means the fact just described.

If the review needs a different emphasis, write the anchor explicitly:

This retry policy can create duplicate writes.

That version points to the policy as the cause. Or write:

The duplicate-write risk is the main concern.

That version names the consequence. The choice depends on what the next sentence must evaluate.

The Naive Idea: This Means the Nearest Noun

A tempting rule is:

This or that always refers to the closest noun.

That shortcut fails because a demonstrative can point to a whole proposition, not only to one noun. Consider:

The gateway rejected the request because the token had expired. This triggered a retry.

What triggered the retry? The rejection, the expiration, or the whole event? A reader may infer the intended meaning, but the sentence does not select one anchor. The writer can repair it:

The rejection triggered a retry.

Or:

The expired token triggered a retry.

Or:

This rejection-and-expiration event triggered a retry.

The demonstrative is not the problem by itself. The problem is that the anchor has not been named at the point where the next decision depends on it.

The opposite mistake is to avoid every demonstrative and repeat a long clause:

The gateway rejected the request because the token had expired. The gateway rejecting the request because the token had expired triggered a retry.

That is precise but heavy. Good technical writing chooses a compact anchor when the meaning is stable and restores the noun or claim when it is not.

A Better Model: Point, Scope, and Distance

Use three questions before choosing this or that.

1. What is the target?

Is the demonstrative pointing to:

• one named object: this queue;
• one named change: that migration;
• one option in a comparison: this design;
• a whole preceding claim: This means the cache is stale?

Name the target in your head before shortening it.

2. What is the scope?

A demonstrative before a noun has noun scope:

This migration changes the index.

The word selects one migration. A sentence-initial demonstrative can have claim scope:

The migration changes the index. This means the old query plan may fail.

The second This summarizes the fact that the migration changes the index. It does not simply replace the migration.

3. Does the discourse distance help or hurt?

In technical prose, this often presents the current proposal, result, or immediately active idea. That often points to a previously mentioned, contrasted, or less immediate idea:

We can keep the old queue or adopt a new queue. This design keeps compatibility. That design reduces operational work.

The words do not guarantee physical distance or logical truth. A reader still needs the surrounding nouns and claims. If two candidates are equally plausible, use the noun or repeat the claim.

Plain meaning:

This and that say, “Look at this particular thing or idea,” but the reader needs enough context to know what “this” or “that” includes.

Technical name:

These are demonstratives. Before a noun they are demonstrative determiners; when they stand alone, they can be demonstrative pronouns referring to an object, event, or proposition.

Worked Classification: Object or Whole Claim?

Classify each sentence before editing:

Now trace a short review:

The team can move validation to the gateway. This reduces duplicate work. That change also moves more state into the gateway.

The first This summarizes the proposal to move validation. The second That points back to the same change while presenting a consequence. The writer could make the chain more explicit:

Moving validation to the gateway reduces duplicate work. The change also moves more state into the gateway.

The version with demonstratives is lighter. The version with nouns is safer if the review contains several proposals.

The naive failure is:

The team can move validation to the gateway. This is better. That is risky.

The reader does not know whether this means the proposal, duplicate work, or the gateway. That could mean the same proposal or a different design. Replace the vague evaluations with named claims:

Moving validation to the gateway reduces duplicate work, but it also moves more state into the gateway.

The repair does not remove all demonstratives. It restores the information that the short forms were hiding.

Where It Breaks

Several changes are active

The migration changes the schema. The rollback changes the data path. This is safer.

Which change is safer? Repeat the target:

The rollback changes the data path. This rollback is safer because it is reversible.

Or name the claim:

Reversibility makes the rollback safer.

A whole claim is mistaken for one noun

The gateway rejects expired tokens. This is the token.

The sentence probably intends to point to the token, but This after the full stop naturally reads as a claim-level reference. Use:

The gateway rejects expired tokens. This token is already invalid.

Or:

The gateway rejects expired tokens. This means the client must refresh them.

The noun after this controls the scope.

That sounds like physical distance, but the contrast is logical

That design keeps the old API; this design requires a new client.

The designs may be in the same document and on the same screen. That and this distinguish alternatives, not necessarily physical locations. Name each design if the comparison has more than two options.

A demonstrative points to a vague container word

The deployment changed several settings. This caused problems.

Which setting or effect caused the problems? Replace this with the relevant claim:

The deployment changed the timeout setting. That change caused request failures.

The noun change gives the reader a visible anchor.

Two Active Checks

Check: What does the sentence-initial This summarize?

The retry creates duplicate writes. This is the main risk.

Think first, then reveal.

Answer: It summarizes the preceding claim that the retry creates duplicate writes. It is not only the word retry or only the writes.

Check: Which sentence clearly points to one migration?

A. This migration changes the index.

B. The migration changes the index. This is dangerous.

C. The migration changes the index. This is the migration.

Think first, then reveal.

Answer: A. This directly modifies migration, so the target is one migration. B points to a claim, and C uses an unnatural and unhelpful repetition.

Trade-offs and Limits

Demonstratives reduce repetition and make a design note easier to follow. They are useful when a proposal, result, or claim has just become the active focus.

The trade-off is compact reference versus visible scope. This or that can make a paragraph flow, but the reader may have to reconstruct whether the word means an object, a change, an event, or a whole claim. The cost rises when several alternatives or incidents are discussed together.

Demonstratives also do not prove the evaluation that follows. “This is safer” names a target only if the target is clear; it does not provide the evidence for safety. The boundary signal is a reader asking “This what?” or “That which part?” When that question is reasonable, restore the noun or restate the claim.

Common Confusions

Confusion: This always means the closest noun

Why it is tempting:

The nearest noun is an easy scanning shortcut.

Better model:

A standalone demonstrative can summarize a whole preceding claim. Check the scope before choosing the referent.

Confusion: That always means a bad or distant thing

Why it is tempting:

Speakers sometimes use that for criticism or physical distance.

Better model:

In technical comparisons, that can simply mark the other option or a previously discussed idea. The sentence must supply the actual evaluation.

Confusion: Demonstratives make a claim precise

Why it is tempting:

“This is safer” sounds more focused than repeating a sentence.

Better model:

A demonstrative is precise only when its anchor is unique. If the paragraph has two changes, name the change or the consequence.

Transfer Practice: Repair a Design Review

Read this review:

The team can cache the profile at the gateway. This reduces database reads. The client can also cache the profile. This is faster, but that may serve stale data.

Assume the intended facts are: gateway caching reduces database reads; client caching reduces latency; client caching may serve stale data; and the team is comparing two distinct changes.

A model answer is:

The team can cache the profile at the gateway. Gateway caching reduces database reads. The client can also cache the profile. Client caching is faster, but client caching may serve stale data.

A more compact answer keeps only one safe demonstrative:

The team can cache the profile at the gateway. This reduces database reads. The client can also cache the profile. Client caching is faster, but it may serve stale data.

The first This has one clear claim anchor: gateway caching. The final it refers to client caching because the subject has just been named and no other singular actor competes in that clause. The original that is removed because it did not tell the reader whether it meant the client cache, the gateway cache, or the speed claim.

Your rewrite succeeds if every demonstrative has a visible target, the two caching choices remain distinct, and the stale-data warning is attached to client caching. If your system has another cache or another consequence, name it rather than stretching this or that.

Resources

• [ARTICLE] Cambridge Dictionary: This, that, these and those
  • Focus: demonstrative determiners, demonstrative pronouns, and reference to situations.
• [DOC] Microsoft Writing Style Guide: Voice and tone
  • Focus: concise wording that keeps a technical proposal or claim visible.
• [REFERENCE] Merriam-Webster: Demonstrative
  • Focus: how a demonstrative points to a particular person, thing, or idea.

Key Takeaways

• This change and This means... can point to different scopes: a noun or a whole claim.
• This often keeps the current proposal active; that can mark another or previously discussed option.
• Demonstratives need a visible anchor when several objects, changes, or claims compete.
• Replace “This is safer” with the noun or claim that the reader must evaluate.
• Demonstratives improve flow, but they do not supply evidence for the evaluation that follows.